A Musical Journey Nobody Could Ever Forget
by Sh0tee
Summary: An "Upgraded" version of the show one could say. Kumiko realises that high school band isn't so bad after all. With 60 members, all with their unique personalities, they promise to make Kumiko's time there the best time of her Life!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is not supposed to be a fanfic for anyone looking for any shipping stories. These will most not likely be explored outside what information was given in the actual show, unless the story naturally progresses that way. This story was written since there is about 60 characters in Hibike, and I wanted to give more characterization to as many as I can. I also may also change up some certain events and create new dramas to adjust the show massively. Basically, come into this story if you want to read an adjusted version of Hibike.**

*Middle School flashback*

It was one of the tensest moments that Kumiko Oumae, had ever have to experience. It was time for the official results of the Kitauji middle school band meet, for the chance to head into the nationals. Surrounded by good friend Azuna Sasaki on her right, and Reina Kousaka, a girl who always seemed to be distant from everyone on her right. For Daikichiyama Middle School, who had never made it to nationals in the school's history, it was a miracle that they were even being considered at all. As results were being announced, as schools were learning about their fates, Kumiko and all of the other members were becoming increasing nervous. Finally, Daikichiyama's results were announced. Everybody in the band, except for Reina, who had a straight face that screamed expectation was clutching their hands against their chests. It had been announced that Daikichiyama had gotten Gold! Everybody was celebrating besides Reina who knew that this was not the last step in her goal to get into nationals. For everybody else, they were just happy that they managed to get this far.

As every school had finally gotten their results, it was finally time to announce which schools were going to the nationals. As all 3 schools were announced one thing was clear. Daikichityama had not managed to make it through. It was a Dud Gold, almost just as bad as a sliver.

"Gold." Kumiko muttered to herself.

"We got Dud Gold, but it was still Gold."

Kumiko was very happy at this result, as she was not expecting to go into the nationals in the first place. However, for Reina beside her, it was a very different story.

"Huh, Kousaka? Happy enough to cry? We got gold!"

Kousaka, clearly disgusted at Kumiko shot her one of the coldest looks she had ever given, with tears in her eyes.

"I'm so upset."

"Eh?"

"I'm so upset I could die! Why is everyone so happy when we didn't even make it to the nationals? We were aiming for the nationals, weren't we?!"

Kumiko responded, "Did you really think that we could make it to the nationals?"

Reina was even more disgusted at Kumiko.

"Aren't you upset? I'm upset! I'm totally upset!"

Reina then stormed off, tears in her eyes, disappointed and angry that nobody had the same attitude that she had. Kumiko could only look on shell shocked.

*Present Day*

Kumiko had just woken up, and was starting to get ready for her first day at Kitauji High School. She stared at the mirror, disappointed in the lack of growth in her body. She decided to tie her hair into a ponytail, just like she did that one faithful middle school moment. Finally walking out of her house, and admiring the new environments that she would be walking through in the future, she finally made it to Kitauji's front entrance. Greeting her and other students there, was the school's band, led by a girl with long black hair and a figure that Kumiko could only wish for in her best dreams. However, as the piece started, Kumiko realized that this band was not up to scratch to achieve anything meaningful.

"Wow, these guys are terrible" she quietly told herself.

To the untrained students who didn't know any better, this sounded like the best performance ever. However Kumiko knew that this band was obviously unskilled. She also noticed that the group only had about 45 members, about 10 members short from regulation in official competitions. She imminently felt a lower interest in joining the band for high school as a result of their playing.

Kumiko had finally gotten into her class for the year. As she was finally getting into her seat, somebody decided to speak to her.

"Who was terrible" a female sitting at Kumiko's desk asked.

"Ehh! Who are you?"

"I'm Katou Hazuki, I sit right behind you! Nice to meet you"

"Ah, I'm Ouame Kumiko, nice to meet you too. Wait, how do you know what I said?"

"Heh heh, you said it out loud!"

"Oh…"

Just as Kumiko got that noise out, they were immediately interrupted by a loud, adult voice.

"Alright, in your seats! You should not be talking at any point in the classroom!"

She also went around and told off a couple of girls for the length of their skirts, before introducing herself as Michie Matsumoto on the blackboard. She would then call the roll, with a noticeable moment occurring right after Hazuki was introduced.

"Ryoyuki, Kawashima?"

"Ummm… It's Sapphire, written as green and shiny."

Sapphire then turned around, with a red blush covered all over here face.

Finally, the first day of high school was over. Just as Kumiko was ready to go…

"Kumiko, lets walk home together!" It was Hazuki

"Eeehh? Kumiko?"

"That's your name isn't it?

"Yeah, it is."

"Right! I'm Hazuki! Call me Katou, call me whatever you want!

"Don't you ever walk home with anyone else?"  
"I decided to do some different things while I am in high school! I'm counting on you Kumiko-Chan!"

As they were walking out of class, they bumped into Sapphire.

"Opal-Chan!" Hazuki said

"No, it's something greener" Kumiko responded back to Hazuki.

Sapphire noticed the little key chain hanging from Kumiko's bag

"Tuba-Kun!"

"Eh?!"

"It's so cute! Can I touch it!"

Kumiko hesitated for a bit before accepting her request.

"So, you play in band as well?!"

"I used to play Euphonium in middle school."

"Wow! Midori played Contra Bass in Middle School!"

Hazuki was deeply confused, but interested in conversation. Kumiko however noticed the use of Midori in that sentence.

"Huh? Midori?"

"Midori is my name! You know, the name Sapphire is kind off… I'd appreciate it if you called me Midori…" she said while looking embarrassed.

"Ok can then, you can call her Kumiko, and I'm Hazuki! By the way, what is a Contra-Bass? What is a Euphonium?"

"A Contra-Bass is this huge instrument, it's like a freakish Violin!

"A Euphonium is a smaller version of this," Kumiko said while pointing to the Tuba Keychain.

"Until now, I have been in the tennis club, however now that I am in high-school, I want to go and join band!

"I was thinking about going to see them right now!" Midori explained.

"Why don't we go together?" Hazuki suggested.

"Let's do it!" Excitedly said Midori.

Kumiko was hesitant but decided to go for it out of the interest of her new friends.

(End Of Part One)

 **AN: I hope you guys enjoyed it so far, obviously have not gotten too far into the story yet but I hope this will give you guys a feel of what I want to go for here. It may seem like I have just copied the script of the actual show so far, but I wanted to really establish the personalities of the characters as if somebody was watching this show for the first time. I also have made improvements into the story, most noticeably with the beginning. As I get the chance to add in more characters, and change some of the current ones, this is where I hope the story can go into something completely unique.**


	2. Chapter 2

As the trio ascended up the stairs, up into the music room where the band practiced, Kumiko still had doubts that she would even join band for high school. Even if she did end up joining, she knew in her mind that she would not be playing the Euphonium at all, instead opting to try a different instrument, as she was quite frankly getting sick of playing the Euphonium. She wasn't really talking as much as Hazuki and Midori were, since Kumiko was not nearly as excited as the other two were.

For Midori however, it was a different story. Midori knew no matter how bad or disjointed the band was, she would be joining and be playing her beloved Contra-Bass. For her, music was her life, she is usually a very shy girl with not a lot of friends and not a lot to add in conversations, however when it came to playing, she always felt a sense of belonging with everyone, and the music, oh boy the music despite having no lyrics to note, it always felt that every piece was talking to her directly. Having come from a very rich middle school, where she also played band, it could also be said that she was the most talented musician of the trio, and would most likely be one of the most talented players in the band as a whole. Despite her very shy demeanour, once she set goals for herself, she would follow that goal until the very end.

Hazuki was very obviously the weakest player in the trio, having never played an instrument before and only got inspired to do so after seeing Kumiko's key chain. Throughout the entire trip up, she needed to be explained by Midori about all of the instruments that one would play in band, especially the Tuba which Hazuki had the most interest in.

"The band is split up into different sections." Midori explained to Hazuki

"Huh? They don't practice all together?"

"Well they do eventually, however whenever a new piece is introduced, it is much easier for these groups to go ahead and just learn their parts separately. Once each section feels adequate enough, then they can all practice together for the instructor to give advice as a whole."

Kumiko was surprised that Midori felt so confident in talking to Hazuki, seeing her in class earlier that day.

"In-struct-or?" Hazuki said confused, not even knowing the basics of band, never seeing a performance in her life. Kumiko knew that Hazuki was interested, however it would be quite tough getting her to completely understand band. She decided to interject.

"An instructor is the person who conducts the band to play the piece perfectly, almost like a tennis coach explaining how to hit tennis balls perfectly." She said trying to use Hazuki's previous tennis experiences to try and get her to understand.

"I think I'm starting to understand…" Hazuki said with a lot of hesitation in both her voice and face.

"It may be best to try and see a performance, to understand what Kumiko-Chan is saying" Midori said.

The trio had finally made it up the stairs and across the hallway into the music room. They decided to look through the door window to get a glimpse of the band before they decided to enter. When they turned away for a moment before deciding to enter in, they were frightened by a tall, older looking girl who decided to press right up against the glass. She then opened to the door to reveal a figure that Kumiko could only wish to have, and long following black hair, wearing glasses. Kumiko's recognized her as the girl who conducted the band during her entrance, however decided not to say anything.

"Ohoho, who do we have here?" the girl said in a teasing tone.

"Ummm, we are here to check out the band!" Hazuki excitedly belted out.

The girl then turned her head directly to the band, with a sheepish grin, and then turned to the trio again.

"Well then, just stand up the back here and enjoy yourselves"

She then pulled 3 sweets out of her pockets, and showed them to the girls.

"Since you guys are the first juniors here, why don't I treat you to some of these!"

Hazuki decided to be the first to grab one. However has she did, the older girl's hand "detached" with the sweets still on the hand. The look of fear was evident on all three girls, especially Hazuki.

"Ahhhh!" screamed everyone. The girl then decided to reveal the trick, using a fake hand to hand out the sweets while tucking her real hand under her sleeve.

"As-u-ka! I thought we said to not scare off the new people!" said another girl who Kumiko noticed as one of the sax players.

"Fine, Fine" the girl known as Asuka muttered.

"Sorry about that, she always doing these sorts of things. I'm Haruka, president of the band."

The trio just stood there in silent, not knowing what to do at all. Kumiko and Hazuki decided to just stay in their spots for the entire session, while Midori, wanting to get a closer look at everything that was going on, decided to move a little bit closer to the front.

After about an hour, the session was over. Midori returned back to Kumiko and Hazuki, and decided to head home. Kumiko was still not convinced that she was going to join, however she knew that she may be roped into it by both Hazuki and Midori.

As the trio were just beginning to head off, something truly shocking happened. A junior girl, with long black hair had just walked through the door with only one thing on her mind.

"Ooaahhh a new student? Are you here to watch?" Asuka was thrilled.

"No, I'm here to join" the girl said.

Kumiko instantly recognized who it was. When she finally processed it, she could not hold back her massive gasp, and her face of pure shock.

It was Reina…

 **AN: Thanks for the follows and reviews I have received so far, I will try hard to follow up on all of your suggestions, this is the first fan-fiction I've written in about 5 years and my first ever proper story, and so it may take some time to come up with some ideas, and so chapters may be less frequent then what I personally want it to be. I will still try and aim for at least once a week, and try and stray of the original story and make it into something newer. I believe I've added a lot more dialogues and backgrounds into some of these characters then what was originally given in the show around this time, and so I hope to completely build off that for now.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: * = Flashback**

The trio made their exit out of the music room. Kumiko's mind could only think of one thing. Reina. Why would she be at this school? Surely there were more successful schools in the area? The two had not spoken since middle school, Kumiko couldn't even bear the thought of talking to her again. She didn't want to apologize to her since she felt that she wasn't wrong, however she knew that Reina also believed that she was right as well. She did realize how talented Reina was at playing the trumpet, and knew that she would be a great aspect to the band. In fact, she was most likely already the most skilled player in the band, and that included all instruments. This development actually made Kumiko a little more interested in joining the band, however she was also still worried about Reina herself. Midori and Hazuki noticed Kumiko deep in thought, and figured that she may have had something to do with Reina, due to her reaction when she came in.

"Did you know that girl?" asked Hazuki.

"Yeah, she was a trumpet player in my middle school band." Kumiko resorted back.

"What was that reaction for then? It seemed as though that you two have history together?"

"Well… Something happened towards the end of our senior year…"

Kumiko then told the award ceremony story to the two girls, and then explained why she was still nervous talking to Reina.

"I can see your point, however maybe she is just very hyper competitive? Maybe try approaching her tomorrow and try to explain it to her, and see how it goes then." Midori gave some very good advice to Kumiko, which was surprising giving her usually shy personality. Kumiko decided to agree with her, and decided to try and talk to Reina just after school tomorrow. She knew that this would be the best course of action, and it also would increase the chance of her joining the band.

Kumiko parted ways with Midori just as the three entered the local train station, as Midori had to take a completely different train. Kumiko and Hazuki did however take the same train together, and decided to talk more about instruments on the way, making Hazuki more and more interested in band. Finally, Hazuki had to leave just a couple of stops before Kumiko did, so they parted their ways. While she was alone, Kumiko decided to listen to a few pieces to pass the time. These pieces all featured heavy use of euphoniums, which Kumiko always gave a harder listen to while they were playing. While it was nice to listen to during the trip, it did not give her any more inspiration, still making it about 50 50 in joining the band or not.

Kumiko finally made it home. After greeting her mother, she noticed both her father and sister were not at home. She knew absolutely why her father wasn't at home, he always worked late, and her sister was a university student, and so there was always a chance that she would not be home.

"Mamiko isn't home?" Kumiko asked her mother. Mamiko was Kumiko's sister's name.

"No, she hasn't come at all this week." Her mother answered with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

Kumiko and Mamiko did not have the greatest of relationships, they always argued with each other and there was always tension when the two were in the same room (usually Kumiko's room) together. However when they were younger, they had a much better relationship. Mamiko also played band as a trombone player, which also influenced Kumiko to play trombone when she got older. When she was finally old enough to join her school band, she originally asked to play trombone, however there were already too many players in the band. The teacher however suggested to Kumiko to play euphonium, as there were no players in the band at the time. Kumiko later accepted and fell in love with playing the euphonium. Mamiko was always there to teach Kumiko on how to play the euphonium, and gave her CD's of Euphonium playings to get her more inspired to become the best player she possibly could. The setback in the sibling's relationship was also a big factor in why Kumiko was less interested in remaining in band for high school, with her main influence in joining was starting to become less to her, why should she even continue playing band?

*  
Kumiko was witnessing Mamiko playing the trombone, as she usually did at a night time. This time, Kumiko felt inspired to get Mamiko to teach her to play the Trombone herself. This experience inspired Kumiko, and then went to ask her mum if she could join a band as well. Her mother said that she couldn't do it right now, however she would be able to once she was older. Band competition rules regulate that you have to be at least 10 years old to join a band that competes in competitions and there were no bands available for younger people. Mamiko meanwhile showed Kumiko how to play all sorts of instruments, using items located throughout the house. All of this inspired Kumiko to join band even more, until the time Kumiko was finally old enough to enter school band when she turned 10.

"What instrument would you like to play?" Kumiko's new band teacher asked her.

"I want to play the trombone!" Gleefully said Kumiko.

The teacher then looked around and pointed out to Kumiko that there were already 4 trombone players and that other ones were not needed. The teacher recommended to Kumiko that she play the euphonium. Kumiko accepted it and took it home. Kumiko always trained with Mamiko using both the Euph and items around the house to practice her breathing, since the euphonium required breath management. This continued until Kumiko could play confidently by herself.

/*

Mamiko had quit band during her high school years, for reasons that Kumiko did not know why. She decided to have dinner and go straight to bed, thinking about two things.

The first thing was the band. Was she going to join it? She felt more and more confident that she was, however she was also getting bored of the euph, and would be playing a different instrument if she did infact join.

The second thing was Reina. What was she going to say to her? Reina was very straight forward, and always knew and meant what she said. How was she going to start the conversation? She knew Reina would recognise her, however she did not know if she should go straight into the topic.

She decided to go to sleep after about an hour and, seemingly as soon as she went up, she was forced up by her mother to get ready to school. The morning had already come…


	4. Chapter 4

Kumiko knew that she would have to speak to Reina today. There was no other option. It was the only way to remove the animosity between the two. She didn't want to apologize, she said nothing wrong, or so she thought. However Reina wasn't going to accept that. She only accepted success, nothing else. Kumiko still had not thought of exactly how to approach her, she was going to do it after school, that was a fact however how was she going to come up to Reina? Reina was not the easiest girl to talk to, so it was not going too easy to get a conversation going, especially due to the tension that followed the two girl's relationship. She finally got out of bed, had breakfast and gotten dressed and out the door to start what would hopefully be a huge burden of her back.

The school day itself seemed to go without problems, Hazuki finally decided on playing the Tuba, and spent a lot of the day talking to Kumiko excitedly about it. Hazuki and Midori also decided to agree to back Kumiko up when talking to Reina, just in case Kumiko decided to get scared or go completely off track.

Finally, the day was over. Kumiko knew that she had to chase up Reina, with Hazuki and Midori following a few steps behind, hiding in some cases so that Reina could not see them. They wanted Kumiko to speak one on one with Reina, no exceptions. Kumiko finally found Reina in the locker room, right near the front entrance. Kumiko asked to talk to Reina behind the school, where no one would be around them and also giving a place for Hazuki and Midori to hide where Reina couldn't see them. Reina agreed to this since she didn't hate Kumiko, and she was one of the only people she knew at Kitauji. Kumiko knew she had to get straight to the point.

"I needed to apologise to you, I didn't know how much you wanted to get into nationals, I really should not have been so accepting of defeat…"

Kumiko said this, however she did still not agree with this completely and wanted to get this whole incident out of her mind, and wanted to keep a good relationship with Reina. Surprisingly, Reina actually gave a little smile at this.

"It's nice to see you finally think this, success should be the only option, you can't get around in life simply failing at everything, it's simply unacceptable." This was said in Reina's trademark monotone voice.

Kumiko and Reina parted ways. Hazuki and Midori were pleased about how the conversation went, and even both wished to meet Reina at some point. Kumiko was relieved, something that had been on her mind for months had now been evaporated. It also ended up being confirmation that she was going to join the band club. She still didn't want to play the euphonium again, however the conversation brought a new spark in Kumiko. She told Hazuki and Midori that she was going to be joining band, the two of them delighted at hearing the news. The trio then decided to go up into the music room, eager to finally join officially. They were of course, greeted by Asuka.

"Ohoho the trio have returned! Finally decided to announce love for me? Don't worry, there is plenty of room in my heart!"

Kumiko could only sigh and reply sternly "Please stop that."

Hazuki decided to be the one to tell her.

"We came here to join the band officially!" She said loudly. Haruka immediately rushed over.

"That's great! Please accept and sign these!" She handed the trio signup sheets.

"We are giving out instruments tomorrow, so just take a seat and enjoy yourselves for now."

Kumiko noticed that there was still no instructor present.

"Where is the instructor?"

"We have no instructor at the moment, we have been told that there has been one hired, but we are not sure when he or she is coming in."

Suddenly, an older looking girl appeared in front of the girls. Kumiko immediately noticed her.

"Aoi-Chan?"

"Hey Kumiko! I didn't know you were going to Kitauji! How is the Euphonium going? 

Kumiko immediately gasped. She didn't want to play it, but unfortunately for her, Asuka who was the leader in that section heard this.

"Please, come with me!" she said with an evil glare on her face.

"Ok..." Kumiko whimpered.

Asuka managed to get Kumiko to promise that she would be playing euphonium, which Asuka also played.

Midori meanwhile wanted to meet some of the other band members. She noticed a girl, who was wearing a frog puppet, like a glove. She was immediately drawn to her.

"…Hey There." Midori said shyly to the girl.

"Hey! Are you a new member?"  
"New Member?" She actually spoke with the puppet. It seemed a lot more timid then this girl.

"Yeah… That frog is cute…"

"Oh this? Her name is Shiori!"

"Yes… I am known as Shiori…"

This girl actually had a live, talking puppet. Midori couldn't believe it. She had a childish personality as well, so naturally, she enjoyed the act.

"What is your name?" Midori decided to ask the girl.  
"My name is Sakiko Suzuka, but you can just call me Sakiko." Midori noted that she reminded her of Hazuki.

Speaking of Hazuki, she immediately went over to the Bass section, where Kumiko and Midori would also be joining. She noticed two Tuba players, a boy and girl. She decided to strike up a conversation with them.

"Hello! Can I watch you guys for a bit?"

The boy decided to respond.

"Are you a Tuba player?"  
"I haven't played before, but im going to be starting tomorrow!"

The girl then responded.

"Sure, we will play something for you!"

The two then decided to play a short piece together. Hazuki was very impressed.

"Amazing!"

The two then decided to introduce themselves.

"I'm Gotou Takuya and this is Riko Nagase" the boy told Hazuki.

Hazuki knew that these two would be very important if she wanted to ever get good at the tuba, as they had been playing much longer then her.

Kumiko had just come back from her talk with Asuka. She decided to go and speak to Aoi for a bit, since they had not seen each other since Kumiko was in elementary school. During this talk, a boy decided to come to the two.

"Hey Kumiko, Aoi."

"Egh, hello Shuuichi…"

Shuuichi was a boy that knew both Aoi and Kumiko have known since elementary, they were also neighbours. Aoi decided to let them speak alone and went to talk with some of the 3rd years.

"Whats with that reaction?"  
"I'm still mad about what you said to me."  
"Huh?"

"You called me ugly and told me to go away from you last year."

"That was because you asked me if I was having dinner at your place in front of others."

"Ah."

Kumiko then decided to move away from Shuuichi and go back with Midori and Hazuki.

Then just a couple of minutes later, a new figure arrived. A tall black-haired male, not in school uniform, just a casual shirt and a pair of trousers. Kumiko and the rest of the band could tell who this is…


End file.
